Treaty on maids promises better working conditions

The Senate’s ratification of the Domestic Workers Convention will bring the treaty into legal force, promising better working conditions and key labor protections for millions of domestic workers, a global rights body said.

“The Philippines’ ratification of the Domestic Workers Convention means that basic labor rights for domestic workers are finally becoming a reality,” said Nisha Varia, senior women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“As the treaty goes into effect, millions of women and girls will have the chance for better working conditions and better lives,” she added.

According to HRW, domestic workers face a wide range of serious abuses and labor exploitation, including excessive working hours without rest, non-payment of wages, forced confinement, physical and sexual abuse, forced labor, and trafficking.

Under the treaty, domestic workers are entitled to protections available to other workers, including weekly days off, limits to hours of work, and minimum wage and social security coverage.

The convention also obliges governments to protect domestic workers from violence and abuse, and to prevent child labor in domestic work.

Domestic workers who are children – nearly 30 percent of the total – and migrants are often the most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, HRW said. It added that migrant domestic workers are often at heightened risk of exploitation due to excessive recruitment fees, language barriers, and national policies that link workers’ immigration status to individual employers.

The group has documented abuses against Filipino migrant domestic workers in Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Singapore, including beatings, confiscation of passports, confinement to the home, overlong working hours with no days off, and in some cases, months or years of unpaid wages.

“The Philippines’ leadership in ratifying the convention sets an important example for other countries,” Varia said.

“President [Benigno] Aquino 3rd and the Philippine Senate should be commended for the ratification. However, the government should move quickly to adopt national legislation to protect domestic workers at home,” she added.

HRW said that once the Congress-proposed Domestic Workers Act is passed, it would raise the minimum wage for Filipino domestic workers.

The bill also requires a written contract, an extension of social security, and improved protection from violence and abuse. -NEIL A. ALCOBER CORRESPONDENT, Manila Times